Lowfat Strawberry Bread
Since Meijer has $1 strawberries again this week, some of you have been asking for this recipe:
A great breakfast or snack, strawberry bread is a perfect way to make use of this season’s harvest!
Lowfat Strawberry Bread
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 – 1 1/4 cups strawberries (about 1 lb, washed/chopped)
1/3 cup egg whites (or 2 eggs or 1 mashed banana)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (to replace 1/2 cup oil)
Strawberry Bread Batter
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs with applesauce (or oil) and vanilla.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Carefully fold in the berries. The batter might seem a little thicker than what you’re used to, but it’s necessary to hold the bread and juicy berries together.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes in a greased loaf pan.
- Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.
Notes
- I always double the recipe when I bake quick breads like this – it saves me time and the bread freezes amazingly well. Wrap cooled loaves in plastic wrap and place inside a freezer bag.
- One 16 ounce container of strawberries, well-chopped, made 2 loaves for me with PLENTY of strawberries throughout! You can puree them if you’d rather not have chunks (it makes the baked result pretty and pink).
- Don’t forget that these also make great muffins (and they freeze well for hectic mornings)!
- I like to add some cinnamon for a little flavor!
- Egg-free variation: substitute 1 mashed banana in place of each egg.
- Looking for a great full-fat version? Try this one: The Best Strawberry Bread
A special thanks to readers Jen and Corinne for sharing their photos!
What is making it so brown? I would think those ingredients would make it whiter?
There’s no baking powder in this recipe??
Correct! The baking soda works as the leavening ingredient.
Can I use frozeen chopped strawberries I have in the freezer from a good sale? Or once they are defrosted would they make the batter too wet? LOVE this idea!
Frozen berries should work fine. I’m not sure if I’d defrost them completely, though – it might turn the batter pink. Maybe rinse them in water to break them up? I know if you’re baking with frozen blueberries, you want to use them frozen; this may be similar. Would anyone else like to chime in?
I make a strawberry bread using frozen strawberries. I just take them out of the freezer and fold them into the batter. The bread is delishious. In the past if the strawberries are really big I use a knife and cut them up a little. I do this even when they are frozen. I even have a recipe for making Strawberry butter.
IMO, fresh berries work best for breads. Frozen berries are great for making berry syrup, smoothies, etc. – but they tend to get a but mushy when thawed out (even when you add them to a recipe while still frozen).
Is this a revamped version of your strawberry bread, Jolyn? I’ve made your other version twice and absolutely love it.
This is the version I usually make myself – and the one that I posted on the Facebook Fan page.
Previously, I had linked to another version on someone else’s site. You’ll find that one here: http://orgjunkie.com/2009/07/guest-post-the-best-strawberry-bread.html
Mine is dark because of the cinnamon!!!
How much cinnamon do you add?
Have you tried this with all whole wheat or part whole wheat flour?
I haven’t personally, but that’s a common substitution that should work very well.
Jolyn,
I’m making this now and was wondering, do you know how long you’d bake two smaller loaves? I imagine the toothpick test would tell when they’re done but I just thought I’d ask in case you’ve done the small loaves in the past.
I’m making it with Splenda and 3/4 whole wheat flour. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the healthy recipe.
If I remember correctly, mini loaves are closer to 30 minutes each. I’d set it for 25-30 minutes and check. Since there are different sizes of mini loaves, that could be negotiable too! I hope you like it!
Thanks for the quick reply.
30 minutes for the little loaves was about right on. This recipe is definitely a keeper. It could be a little sweeter, but my diabetic husband will love it with some butter or some sugar free cool-whip.
I love your site for the Meijer match-ups and now I’m going to have to pay more attention to your recipes. Keep’ em coming!
Who says a Buckeye can’t be friends with a Wolverine? :^)
Great! Glad to know it worked!
FYI: I grew up a Wolverine, but married a Buckeye (born and raised in OH). Our kids are often dressed in the scarlet and gray (they don’t own any clothing from MI teams!). Since I love my husband far more than any team, I wear it for him, too. Does that help?
Funny…we are just the opposite. I was born and raised in Ohio and DH is a U of M grad.
Any idea how many muffins this recipe makes?
I doubled the recipe and made 24 muffins
How long to bake muffins?
A reader just shared this via email. Thought you could benefit from her experimentation!
“Can’t get enough of strawberry muffins @ work. I doubled the recipe, but instead of doubling the flour, I used 1 1/2 cups white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup oatmeal, and 1/2 cup wheat germ. I added 2 tsp orange peel and 1/4 tsp allspice. And because I was bored of chopping strawberries, I put them in the mini chopper for a few spins, more like a chunky “salsa” texture. Then we didn’t get the voids where the strawberry cooked off. Just some ideas – thanks for the base recipe.”
Just made a regular version of this and a modified lowfat (white flour, whole wheat, and oatmeal…one egg, one banana….half applesauce-half oil..half white sugar-half brown) and the modified version is AMAZING! I actually don’t like the regualr whole fat version!!!!
THANK YOU for the great recipe!!!
I used this recipe for muffins this morning…it was delicious!!!
Great recipe! Next time, I’ll make mini loaves and freeze all but one so I don’t eat it all at once;) Thanks for sharing when the strawberry prices are so low!!
Would anyone happen to know what the nutritional facts would be or how I could figure it out.. Thanks
Thank you. We have the ingredients and I’ve printed it off for Hubby to make on Sunday morning in place of his cranberry/bananana. Sounds great.